In the waning laps of Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bank of America 400 at Charlotte, Chase Briscoe appeared to be cruising to his third victory of the 2026 season.
That was until his right-front tire started to give away.
That opened the door for Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell to hunt down Briscoe for the checkered flag. The two were side-by-side when the flag flew, but it was Briscoe holding off Bell on the outside line to win.
It was not only Briscoe’s third win of the campaign, but his second straight win in the Cup Series after winning at Las Vegas the week prior. The victory was Briscoe’s first at Charlotte Motor Speedway and eighth career Cup win overall.
Bell’s late-race charge was one that caught the race winner by surprise.
Chase Briscoe on Christopher Bell’s Charge: ‘Blew My Mind’
In the final laps of Sunday’s race, Briscoe knew he was in trouble.
Holding about a 2-second margin with under five circuits to go, the driver of the 19 knew he had a right-front tire issue. Thankfully for the 31-year-old out of Mitchell, Indiana, he was able to hang on for victory.
When speaking to SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Briscoe admits he wishes things could have gone smoother.
“I wish it wasn’t so stressful there at the end. Just the finish being that close, it was crazy how close that finish came to have a 2-second lead with three or four [laps] to go. I just had a right-front tire coming apart. I mean, another corner, I was going to blow a tire and hit the fence or obviously Christopher was going to get by me,” Briscoe said.
On top of the tire issue, Briscoe caught lapped traffic in the closing laps, hindering the handling of his No. 19 Toyota. Despite the adversity Briscoe faced in the final laps, he was stunned at how quickly his teammate was able to run him down.
“I was two seconds ahead or whatever and felt like I was just cruising. Then, I caught that pack of lapped cars and just got extremely tight and then on top of that, obviously, the tire was coming apart. It blew my mind how fast he was able to catch me that last lap and a half. I thought there was no way when I took two to go that he was going to catch me. My pace was that slow with, obviously, the tire coming apart. Wild finish, for sure,” Briscoe said.
With four races remaining, Briscoe ranks fourth in the Cup Series Chase standings, 65 points behind championship leader Kyle Larson. Gunning for his first championship, Briscoe made the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway last year under the previous format but finished third among the title contenders.